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[Beanie Recs] Dramas set in the fashion industry


Ahoy, Beanies! It’s time to gather your collective genius for a recommendation series that features you and your drama knowledge. Each week we’ll drop a drama conundrum and leave it up to you to provide a drama rec, and the appropriate rationale behind it, be it long or short. Respond below!
 

What with The Fabulous delayed, I desperately need another drama about the fashion industry. Yeah, I’ve heard they suck, but I’m fine with that. It’s my catnip.


Have a very particular drama itch that needs scratching? In need of a Beanie Rec? Email us at hello @ dramabeans.com and we’ll feature your topic in a future post.

 
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Well if you want the worst in the genre I'd recommend Fashion King lol

For something fashion adjacent, I enjoyed Miss Korea

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Miss Korea is LOVE!
It also has my most favorite secondary loveline EVER!

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YESSSS, you're talking about the Lee Sung-min gangster couple, right? God, I was so invested.

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YESSS Lee Sung Min and Song Sun Mi. I LOVED their story and they have both been in my top scene stealers list since then.

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There are ancient posts on my fanwall somewhere of me fangirling over them 😂

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Record Of Youth I think kinda counts, Park Bo-gum’s character starts off as a model, so you see some fashion shows

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Thanks I have found Miss Korea on YouTube. Hopefully, all the episodes are on there so I can see if it has aged well.

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I watched it awhile back so I'm not sure if it holds up, but it is from the same writer of Jealousy Incarnate

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Oh wow, that’s in my top 10. I will forgive them a lot now I know that.😊

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The writer and PD worked together on Pasta as well, which is an all-time favorite of mine. But, more recently, the PD worked on Once Upon a Small Town and Bossam.

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Can we add Miss Korea to our list for the WDKD Club?😊

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Yes let’s do that. We could have it for February the month of love.❤️

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I rewatch it regularly and I think it holds up great.

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Thank you that’s great to know

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Fashion King could be in the topic of the bad endings :p

Miss Korea was really nice. I liked the casting.

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I fast-forwarded through Fashion King (i.e., watched first 2 episodes then skipped to the last) and still felt like I wasted my time.

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Sort of unrelated but the drama What Happened in Bali by the same writer of Fashion King was known for Zo Insung's casual business fashion.

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I don't recollect seeing many dramas with this set up.
Recently, Record of Youth felt like it tackled this subject quite well (until i dropped somewhere at ep 10).
Baby faced beauty? It's an old drama. So I don't remember much. But i think she worked in the fashion industry.

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Model starring Kim Nam-joo and Jang Dong-gun. A classic.

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It's old but: Fashion 70s, man. Everyone was gorgeous. 🥲🥲 Lee Yowon, Joo Jinmo, Chung Jungmyung, Kim Minjung.

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So great, even with the almost indecipherable subs I saw it with 🤦🏼‍♀️

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Now we are breaking up has a fashion designer and photographer as the leads. If you don’t mind annoying ex fiancées and vicious mother in laws, side character affairs, noble idiocy and spoilt heirs then this is likely to have enough of the fashion world to meet your needs. You see the cut throat nature of lines being copied for the knockoff market, the fight to stay prominent in the department stores and the competitive nature of the international and domestic lines.

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+1 for Now, We are Breaking Up. It gave us a glimpse into how the supply chain works in Korea's local fashion industry (assuming that was based on reality. I thought it was interesting). I recognized the attempt at a mature plot line (including the gratuitous Grey's Anatomy-inspired opening) and appreciated the beautiful people in the case. The rest of it unfortunately was cliched.

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The first that comes to mind is Glass Mask. Really good. And the first time I got an in-depth concept of the technique - cross-stitching.

Others are...
VIP
Kill Heel. I'm really reluctant to name this one since it became a collosal mess for me.

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I Do, I Do The FL is a shoes designer and had a great room just for her own shoes :p

Cheongdamdong Alice I don't recall so much... I think I wasn't a fan of the FL

The Royal Tailor It's a movie but I really liked the part about tailoring.

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I DO, I DO is at least fashion related- and a great romcom.

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She Was Pretty is set at a fashion magazine.

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Jang Bori Is Here for hanbok fashion

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For someone who is a bit into fashion, I dont have any names in my head that the leads work in this field. Wow.. I unconsciously managed to avoid all the above-mentioned fashion dramas. So strange.

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Though it’s far from perfect, Laurel Tree Tailors has its moments….particularly the runway scene featuring the four male leads: Lee Dong-Gun, Cha In-Pyo, Choi Won-Young, and Hyun Woo. Loved watching them strut their stuff!

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YES, I love Wolgyesu, flaws and all!

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I watched the whole thing for Park Eun Suk. From some point on I was just ffing to get to his scenes lol

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I think it would have to be Baby Faced Beauty - I watched it so long ago that I barely remember anything, but I DO remember the arc at the end where the heroine is designing a dress while temporarily colour blind. That was some good TV, and it's stuck with me.

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There are several Chinese dramas I’ve liked that are fashion based. They all have a similar storyline-girl trying to break in, man is CEO in industry, they clash and eventually help each other out and fall in love. There’s often some older craftsman that they have to save or convince to help them. The business is always cutthroat and about winning China international renown. I like them when I really don’t want to think. (They are also all better than the most recent Kdrama fashion drama that should not be named.)
Love Designer
Sunshine of My Life
Are the ones I could remember for now

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I started Love Designer and two episodes in and I already saw everything you said (except a traditional craft to be saved).

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I think that one is they have to persuade an elder to help them, but I might be wrong. They have to make up a lot of plot to fill all the episodes!

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Besides She Was Pretty and Fashion King, I have nothing substantial. It came to mind though that some of the older dramas had characters who had a fashion connection. Full House's second FL is a fashion designer. Goong's FL is a fashion major.

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Oh, there's a short drama Queen of the Ring that has a fashion show and Kim Seulgi (always a plus).

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I forgot about that webdrama that raised important points about clothes representing the woman.

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"Kill Heel" was about a home shopping channel but had fashion mixed in since they sold clothes. The storyline was kind of makjang but I loved Lee Hye-Young in it. She was also in "Mother," the Korean remake, and I think she plays memorable characters. I also enjoyed Kim Sung-Ryung's performance in "Kill Heel."

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Lee Hye-young was the driving force of Kill Heel. Her character was no saint, but I sympathized with her the most, and she deserved better than the other two protagonists. I could totally picture Lee Hye-young as Miranda Priestly if South Korea would ever do a remake of The Devil Wears Prada.

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Perfume with Go Won-hee and Shin Sung-rok! I loved the designs and Shin Sung-rok's character is one of those few characters who embodies the designer character philosophically not just artistically (on a side note, Shin Sung-rok was just made for the perfectionist Yi-do who, in spite of his theatrics, was a decent human being). Also, I loved how the drama developed the leads' relationship in a slow and warm way.

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Ah, I just remembered. Lee El in 'Matrimonial Chaos' was a bespoke fashion designer (seamstress?), owned a shop. The oddest part of the otherwise excellent series was Lee El's clothes were so oddly voluminous and ultra-concealing, sometimes resembling nun's habits.

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